"What did you say?!"
Felicia's voice rose to a near-shriek, her enhanced reflexes causing her claws to extend involuntarily as fury coursed through her enhanced physiology. The casual dismissal from this four-eyed, muscle-bound alien princess was more than she could tolerate.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, you violent gorilla!" Felicia snarled, stepping forward until she was nose-to-sternum with the significantly taller Tetramand. "I'm the one Ben likes most! You're just some... some alien groupie who followed him home!"
Looma's four red eyes narrowed with what might charitably be called amusement, though it looked more like the expression a predator might wear when contemplating particularly entertaining prey.
"So what if he likes you?" she replied with characteristic directness. "You three are pathetically weak. If Ben didn't have some inexplicable fondness for fragile Earth creatures, I wouldn't waste time acknowledging your existence. Stand aside before you get hurt and start crying."
The Tetramand worldview was refreshingly simple: strength determined worth, power decided leadership, and everything else was decorative nonsense. In her eyes, Felicia and her friends possessed roughly the same combat value as particularly attractive houseplants.
"You muscle-bound, four-eyed freak!" Felicia exploded, literally bouncing up to headbutt Looma in the ribs, the highest point she could reach on the princess's towering frame. "You're the one who should step aside! I was Ben's first girlfriend!"
Mary Jane wasn't about to be outdone in the romantic competition stakes. She grabbed Helen Cho's arm and pulled the still-dazed doctor into their impromptu alliance. "We were here first, you red-skinned, four-eyed... gorilla!"
"Yeah!" Felicia added, she and Mary Jane simultaneously puffing out their chests in a display that emphasized their distinctly human advantages. "Ben likes us more because we're actually attractive! You look like someone took a bodybuilder and painted them with red house paint!"
While their assets might not match Looma's impressive proportions, both women possessed the kind of natural curves that had made them standouts even in a city full of models and actresses. Their figures were feminine and graceful where Looma was imposing and muscular.
"Piles of soft fat," Looma observed with genuine puzzlement. "What exactly are you proud of? Can those things throw a punch? Can they lift a car? Can they break through armor?"
The cultural disconnect was complete. It was like birds trying to convince fish that feathers were superior to scales, the fundamental metrics of value were so different that meaningful comparison was impossible.
No matter how perfectly sculpted their figures might be, could they shatter concrete with a casual gesture? And no matter how much raw physical power Looma possessed, could she understand the subtle art of making a man's heart race with a single glance?
They were arguing in completely different languages.
"Hey!" Eighteight's electronic voice cut through their dispute with mechanical irritation. "Aren't you being a bit too casual about this? I'm standing right here!"
The response was immediate and unanimous.
Three furious fists, Felicia's clawed, Mary Jane's enhanced, and Looma's space-powered, struck the Sotoraggian warrior simultaneously with enough force to rattle her advanced armor plating. Even through multiple layers of protection, the coordinated assault left Eighteight seeing stars.
"Stay out of Parker family business!" the three women declared in perfect unison, their eyes blazing with the kind of maternal fury that could make space tyrants reconsider their life choices.
The solidarity was temporary but absolute. Whatever their differences regarding Ben's romantic preferences, they were united in their territorial response to outside interference.
Eighteight, unfortunately, lacked the cultural context to recognize the tactical error she'd just committed. Instead of retreating to let the situation defuse naturally, she raised her Sky Hammer with the intent of teaching these presumptuous females a lesson about proper respect.
"Wait," Looma said, raising one hand to forestall further argument while keeping her other three focused on their actual opponent. "Ben wouldn't want to see us fighting each other, especially at a time like this. Let's eliminate this interloper first, then settle our... discussion."
Felicia twisted her body into a combat stance that showcased both her flexibility and her determination. "Fine. But only if you admit that Ben likes me more. However,..." she glanced at the increasingly angry alien warrior, "I agree we should deal with our uninvited guest first."
"We'll settle this properly afterward," Looma declared, her muscles tensing as she prepared for battle.
"No problem," Mary Jane added with a smile that was equal parts charming and predatory. "Whether it's a contest of strength, skill, or anything else, I'm ready."
Looma grinned back, the expression revealing far too many sharp teeth. "Excellent. I've never lost a fair fight in my life."
Felicia and Mary Jane exchanged meaningful glances, their smiles becoming distinctly cat-like.
"Oh, we're not planning to compete in fighting," Felicia purred, her tone carrying implications that sailed completely over Looma's head.
The alien princess was thinking about arm-wrestling and sparring matches. The human women were contemplating entirely different forms of competition, ones that involved silk lingerie, romantic dinners, and private moments that had nothing to do with physical combat.
Victory, both women thought simultaneously. This muscle-bound alien might be able to punch through buildings, but she clearly had no idea how to actually please a boyfriend.
While his friends dealt with their romantic complications, Ben had taken a portal directly to its terminus: the highest point in Manhattan, where Vilgax waited like some space spider in the center of his web of destruction.
The Stark Tower, or what had once been Stark Tower before Tony's disgrace and exile, provided the perfect dramatic backdrop for their final confrontation. Pepper Potts had donated all of Stark Industries' remaining assets to charity in a desperate attempt to restore some of Tony's tarnished reputation, leaving the iconic building technically unowned.
Ben had no interest in claiming it. The Primus Building served his needs perfectly well, and besides, he owned entire planets now. Purchasing a second-hand skyscraper seemed almost quaint by comparison.
More importantly, these elevated locations always seemed to attract megalomaniacal villains like moths to a flame. There was something about looking down on the world from a great height that appealed to the kind of personality that thought universal conquest was a reasonable career goal.
The Rainbow Bridge's energy left crystalline patterns burned into the rooftop as Ben stepped through the dimensional portal, his human form silhouetted against the aurora-like afterglow.
"I've been waiting for you, Ben Parker," Vilgax said without turning around, his voice carrying harmonics that hadn't been there during their previous encounters.
The alien warlord's confidence was absolute. From the beginning, he'd known this war had only one relevant participant. Everyone else, the Plumbers, the Sky Hammer Messengers, the desperate defenders of Earth, they were all just distractions, pieces being moved around a space chess board while the real players prepared for their final game.
When Vilgax finally turned to face him, Ben had to suppress a whistle of appreciation. The transformation was remarkable even by space standards. Vilgax had grown at least two feet taller, his already impressive frame now radiating the kind of power that bent space-time around its edges. The tentacles emerging from his back writhed with their own intelligence, each one pulsing with energy drawn from conquered realms.
"You're certainly enthusiastic," Ben observed, his tone carrying the kind of casual dismissal that had infuriated tyrants across the galaxy. "Too bad about the smell, though. I've never been fond of seafood."
He clapped his hands together, and the temperature above the building immediately spiked beyond the melting point of most known metals. Flames erupted around him like a personal star going nova, transforming him into Ultimate Heatblast, the fusion of Pyronite power and the Eternal Flame of Asgard.
Two volcanic craters opened on his shoulders, each one containing enough thermal energy to ignite atmospheres. The artificial sun of his transformation turned night into day across Manhattan, casting shadows that stretched for miles.
Vilgax seemed genuinely unimpressed by the display, his mouth curving into what might have been a smile if it had belonged to something that understood concepts like humor or joy.
"You've helped me upgrade considerably," he said, flexing claws that could now carve through dimensions. "I really should thank you for that. But it's time for the Omnitrix to return to its rightful owner."
Without further warning, Vilgax launched himself forward, his own flames igniting around him like the birth of a malevolent star. But these weren't ordinary flames, they carried the primal essence of Muspelheim itself, the foundational fire that had existed since the birth of the Nine Realms.
"I have fire too!" Vilgax roared, his attack meeting Ben's in a collision that briefly created a second sun above New York City.
The aftermath was immediate and catastrophic. Gas lines exploded for miles in every direction as the superheated air ignited anything remotely flammable. Asphalt melted and flowed like lava streams, creating a hellscape of bubbling petroleum that filled the air with toxic smoke.
But worse than the environmental destruction was the tactical reality: Vilgax's flames were consuming Ben's fire like fuel, growing stronger as they devoured the Pyronite energy.
Same source, Ben realized as he desperately pulled back from the engagement. Vilgax had absorbed power from Surtur himself, giving him command over the primordial flames that predated Ben's artificial enhancement. In a direct contest, Ultimate Heatblast was just kindling for a space bonfire.
The flame-dragon that pursued him through the air confirmed his analysis. Ben shot skyward like a rocket, breaking free of the conflagration just as laser vision carved through the space where he'd been hovering.
WHAM!
The energy beams caught him in the shoulder with enough force to send him tumbling toward the street below. Before he could recover, Vilgax was there, his massive fist driving into Ben's midsection with the momentum of a falling asteroid.
The impact sent Ben crashing through dozens of buildings like a runaway freight train, each collision creating thunderclaps that shattered windows for miles. When he finally came to rest in a crater deep enough to hide a city bus, the mushroom cloud of debris rose high enough to cast shadows across the entire borough.
Vilgax descended from the sky with leisurely confidence, exhaling a breath that carried the absolute cold of dead Jotunheim. The supernatural chill froze the airborne dust into ice crystals that fell like snow, creating an eerily beautiful scene amid the destruction.
"Your weakness disappoints me, Ben Parker," Vilgax observed, walking toward the crater with the measured pace of someone who knew the outcome was no longer in doubt. "Perhaps I've simply grown too powerful. In pursuing the Omnitrix, I've apparently surpassed its capabilities entirely."
He flexed his enhanced muscles, feeling space forces flow through his upgraded physiology. The power was intoxicating, strength beyond anything he'd dreamed possible, accumulated through the systematic consumption of gods and the theft of their divine essences.
But he still needed the Omnitrix. Raw power was useful, but to truly conquer the multiverse, he required the genetic diversity that would allow him to create specialized armies for every conceivable challenge.
The Sky Hammer Messengers were effective, but they were ultimately limited. Ben Parker, enhanced with the right motivational techniques, could provide the genetic templates needed to build an infinite variety of specialized forces.
"Has your mother ever told you that you're a little too full of yourself?" Ben's voice emerged from the settling dust, accompanied by the distinctive sound of crackling electricity.
Four-Arm burst from the debris cloud like a crimson thunderbolt, red lightning coursing around his massive frame as he channeled both his Tetramand heritage and the Old Power he'd mastered on Sakaar. Each step left glowing footprints in the molten asphalt as he charged toward Vilgax with the kind of devastating momentum that could crack tectonic plates.
This was the technique that had defeated the Hulk at his angriest, the fusion of martial arts perfection and space energy that made Four Arms more dangerous than opponents twice his size.
Vilgax didn't even bother to dodge.
He simply raised his left arm and threw a horizontal punch that met Ben's charge head-on, the collision between their fists creating a localized implosion that folded space-time around the impact point.
CRACK!
Ben's arm broke in seventeen places simultaneously, bone and enhanced muscle tissue giving way like wet paper under the overwhelming force differential. Blood sprayed in arterial patterns as his supposedly invincible transformation discovered its limits.
For the first time since gaining his powers, the Four-Armed Overlord had been absolutely overwhelmed in a contest of pure strength.
The pain was beyond description, but Ben didn't retreat. Instead, he gritted his teeth and began throwing punches with all four arms at once, red lightning crackling around each strike as he unleashed a storm of attacks that blurred the line between martial arts and natural disaster.
Thousands of punches per second, each one carrying enough force to level buildings, created a drumbeat of destruction that echoed across the city. But Vilgax's enhanced reflexes allowed him to block or deflect every single strike while simultaneously looking for openings in Ben's guard.
When the opportunity presented itself, he drove his elbow into Ben's chest with surgical precision.
BOOM!
The legendary elbow technique, perfected by warriors whose names had been forgotten by history, struck with enough force to cancel Ben's transformation entirely. The Omnitrix's safety protocols activated automatically, recognizing that its wielder was moments away from death and forcibly returning him to human form.
Ben hit the ground hard, his chest feeling like someone had detonated a grenade inside his ribcage. Even with the watch's protection, he could taste blood and feel organs that were definitely not where they were supposed to be.
"Ultimate Gravattack," he gasped, triggering another transformation.
The living planet form materialized around him, gravitational fields strong enough to crush matter into degenerate states radiating outward from his space body. With a gesture, he created localized gravity wells that should have reduced Vilgax to a puddle of exotic matter.
Instead, the alien warlord simply walked forward through the distorted space-time, his feet sinking into the ground but his progress never faltering. The earth behaved like loose snow under his enhanced physiology, an inconvenience rather than an obstacle.
Dark energy began gathering in Vilgax's hands, coalescing into a sphere that hurt to look at directly.
"There's no point in further resistance, Ben Parker!" Vilgax declared, his voice carrying the absolute confidence of someone who had transcended his previous limitations. "Your strength is nothing compared to what I've become! Not only you, but your precious Plumbers will fall to my Sky Hammer Messengers!"
He gestured dismissively, as if swatting away an irritating insect. "I know you have powerful subordinates, but Psyphon will join any battle quickly enough to ensure victory. Sixsix will triumph through sheer superiority. The others will succeed through numerical advantage! The great Vilgax will become king of the entire universe!"
The dark energy sphere pulsed with enough power to sterilize continents as Vilgax prepared to end the battle with overwhelming force.
But Ben was smiling.
"You're right," he admitted, his planetary form beginning to shift and change. "My power alone isn't enough. But what about using your own power against you?"
The transformation rippled across his space body as new circuitry patterns emerged, golden conductors and energy absorption nodes replacing the rocky exterior of Ultimate Gravattack.
"Feedback!"
The blue-skinned Conductoid form extended both hands toward the incoming energy sphere, his absorption capabilities enhanced to space levels by his fusion with Celestial power. The dark matter attack, instead of vaporizing him, flowed into his body like water finding its level.
For a moment, Vilgax's attack was held in perfect suspension, its destructive force contained within Feedback's enhanced physiology.
Then the tentacles on Ben's head swiveled toward Vilgax like the muzzles of space artillery pieces.
"Return to sender," Ben said, and unleashed everything back at its source.
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